Hungry Travelers - Page 4 of 83 - Bringing the tastes of travel back home

2024 update on bringing food through US Customs

Posted on January 27, 2024January 27, 2024 by Pat and David

One of our earliest posts on HungryTravelers dealt with bringing food home from another country. It was mostly a cautionary tale about the many prohibitions back in 2009. But the rules at Customs and Border Control (CBP) have become much more nuanced in recent years, based more on state-of-the-art science and less on xenophobic suspicion of ‶unAmerican″ foods. We're still going to have a hard time bringing home Spanish jamón ibérico or Italian prosciutto and we'd never try smuggling Uncle Guido's homemade country sausage, but the revised regulations are much friendlier. They are, however, far more detailed. Food that's okay coming from some countries is prohibited if coming from some others. Moreover, the green-light and red-light lists change frequently. Declare and present The first thing...Read More

Our Manhattan farewell in a few images

Posted on January 19, 2024January 20, 2024 by Pat and David

We've probably consumed too many of the slow-dissolve photo montages looking back on the year just concluded. Or too many listicles of the greatest fill-in-the-blanks. But we can't help concluding our series of Manhattan posts with a shout-out to some of the folks in the food industry who made that month so memorable. The urge to feed people is a kind and generous impulse. Thanks to these folks who made us feel appreciated. Here's back at you. Waitress at Junior's in Brooklyn, counter grill cook at S&P Lunch, waiter at Lombardi's Food cart operator for Nathan's Famous, waiter at Sylvia's, waitress at Lexington Candy Shop Frankie Frank at Hajji's Deli, hot dog server at Katz's Delicatessen, counter woman at Magnolia Bakery

35th Boston Food & Wine Festival makes a splash

Posted on January 13, 2024January 13, 2024 by Pat and David

Forgive us for writing a little late in the day. We were out late last night cavorting with several hundred wine lovers at the Boston Harbor Hotel (70 Rowes Wharf, Boston; 617-748-1878, bostonharborhotel.com). We were all attending the gala launch of the Boston Food & Wine Festival. Veuve Cliquot bubbles greeted us at the VIP reception in the hotel's luxurious John Adams Presidential Suite for opening remarks by hotel manager Stephen Johnston. A small selection of reserve Bordeaux and Burgundies poured by Gordon's Fine Wine & Liquors (gordonswine.com) (above) paired with another table representing a broad selection of mostly California wines. Those were just the aperitifs. The hotel has a spectacular location on Rowes Wharf, and the ballrooom-sized Wharf Room makes the most of the...Read More

Sylvia’s carries the banner for Harlem soul food

Posted on January 5, 2024December 30, 2023 by Pat and David

When we visited Sylvia's Restaurant (328 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY; 212-996-0660, sylviasrestaurant.com) a few days before Thanksgiving, our server Ali reminded us that we could return on the holiday if we wanted. ‶We're full up on reservations,″ he said, ‶but if you have no place else to go, we'll fit you in. Sylvia's believes no one should go hungry on Thanksgiving.″ That same spirit of welcome embodies Sylvia's throughout the year. Founded in 1962 by Sylvia Woods (whose family still operates it), the restaurant remains a standard-bearer of authentic soul food. Moreover, it's a community favorite, a touchstone of urban Black culture, and a Mecca for politicians courting the Black vote. Some of their photos line the walls, along with signed photos of...Read More

Inspiring the well-equipped kitchen

Posted on January 3, 2024December 21, 2023 by Pat and David

We've written before about the wonderful Paris kitchen supplies store, E. Dehillerin. Now we've met its match in Manhattan at J.B. Prince Company (36 East 31st Street, 6th floor, New York, NY; 212-683-3553; jbprince.com). Created in 1977 by German-born Judith B. Prince, the store isn't quite as old as Dehillerin (founded 1820). And it's moved around a bit. But the sixth floor showroom of its current incarnation is a vast toyland of kitchen tools and a treasure for the neighborhood.. Long-time staff member and CEO Tim Mussig purchased the company from Judith Prince when she retired recently. A former professional restaurant cook, he tends to hire staff with a similar background. Not only does the company carry all sorts of marvelously obscure kitchen tools, its...Read More

Going to see the inventor of chopped cheese

Posted on December 29, 2023December 29, 2023 by Pat and David

This year being the semi-official 50th anniversary of hip hop, we're reminded how certain deeply embedded bits of culture are actually not all that old. Take the NYC bodega lunch counter special, the ‶chopped cheese″ sandwich. We admit that when we enountered a bodega in Chelsea that advertised the ‶best chopped cheese in New York,″ we had to ask what it was. But we didn't feel that ignorant. No greater local food expert than Anthony Bourdain was also infamiliar with the culinary phenomenon synonymous with the Manhattan neighborhoods of Harlem and Washington Heights and the nearby South Bronx. The name of the sandwich appears to be short for ‶chopped cheeseburger.″ Foraging freely on the web, we converged on the generally accepted birthplace of the chopped...Read More

Visiting the bakery of New York’s guru of bread

Posted on December 26, 2023December 20, 2023 by Pat and David

Jim Lahey was a hero to us and many other home cooks during the pandemic shutdown. That's no exaggeraton. He's the baker behind the ‶no-knead bread″ method that had us all making delicious crusty bread in preheated Dutch ovens. Mind you, he's also the baker behind the overnight cool-rise pizza dough recipe for home cooks that we've been using for the last decade. We're not foolish enough to suggest that Lahey invented the crusty Dutch oven bread or the wonderful pizza dough. But he did carefully craft recipes for home cooks. His fame rests on the propensity of the New York Times food section to spread them far and wide. Never underestimate the power of Big Media. The original bakery at 73 Sullivan Street in...Read More

Bourbon House knows the season’s spirits

Posted on December 22, 2023December 20, 2023 by Pat

I didn't make it to Dickie Brennan's Bourbon House (144 Bourbon St., New Orleans, La.; 504-522-0111; bourbonhouse.com) for a Reveillon dinner. But there was always lunch. I didn't want to leave New Orleans without enjoying a plate of shrimp and grits. One of New Orleans top seafood restaurants seemed like just the right place. With plump shrimp, spicy sausage, and creamy grits, the dish (at right) hit all the right flavor notes. I'd always assumed that the restaurant took its name from its location on the French Quarter's fabled Bourbon Street. But it turns out that proprietor Dickie Brennan, scion of a celebrated family of New Orleans restaurateurs, is a Bourbon connoisseur. The bar stocks about 250 American whiskeys. It's said to be the most...Read More

Delving into Revillon’s historic connections

Posted on December 20, 2023December 20, 2023 by Pat

New Orleans' Reveillon dinners are a link to the city's past. Tradition holds that during the mid-19th century, well-to-do families would feast on an elaborate meal after Mass on Christmas Eve and again on New Year's Eve. The practice had all but disappeared until the city's restaurants revived it with special Reveillon menus. The four-course meals range from $40 to $150, putting them in reach of many pocketbooks. I like a taste of history with my meal, so one afternoon, I visited the Gallier House museum (1132 Royal St., New Orleans, La.; 504-274-0748; hgghh.org) to see how a French Quarter family would have lived more than 150 years ago. The townhome with elaborate wrought iron balcony was designed by noted architect James Gallier, Jr. and...Read More

New Orleans feasts make merry at Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2023December 20, 2023 by Pat

Decorating a tree and baking cookies are fine Christmas traditions. But New Orleans has an especially festive — and tasty — tradition that I wish other communities would adopt. In this city where people's love of good food is exceeded only by their love of a good party, about 50 restaurants offer the chance for both. Starting after Thanksgiving and running through December, they create fixed-price four-course menus that are too good to resist. That was certainly the case for me and my friend Patti as we enjoyed a holiday reunion earlier this month. Click here for the full Reveillon list. Families, friends, and work colleagues fill many of the tables, but visitors are warmly welcomed. If you want to really fit in, wear something...Read More